Inflation-Adjusted Box Office Totals

Zachary Pincus-Roth offers us a much-needed complaint about the habit of using nominal dollars when calling something or other the “highest-grossing movie of all time” or the “best-opening weekend.” Failure to adjust for inflation is always a bad idea, but in the case of these cinema lists it’s also horribly culturally distorting. The highest-grossing films in nominal terms includes a lot of mediocrities and is just very biased toward the recent. The correct list, by contrast, is a list of films that, while not necessary the best movies, are undeniably significant cultural icons:

Gone With the Wind

Star Wars

The Sound of Music

E.T.

The Ten Commandments

Titanic

Jaws

Doctor Zhivago

The Exorcist

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

101 Dalmations

The Empire Strikes Back

Ben-Hur

Return of the Jedi

The Sting

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Jurassic Park

The Graduate

The Phantom Menace

Fantasia

Now, the less said about The Phanton Menace and Titanic the better, but in general you’d have to say that cracking that list would be a pretty impressive achievement.

Related

It’s official, folks; Star Wars: The Force Awakens now wears the crown of being the highest-grossing film of all time in North America. The latest sequel in the Star Wars franchise has overtaken Avatar for the top spot, going farther than any movie in the history of domestic box office.

Lucasfilm"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" broke multiple box-office records opening weekend. The film now holds the record for highest-grossing opening weekend with $247 million. "The Force Awakens" also debuted to a record $528 million worldwide.

Los Angeles (AFP) - Pixar's critically acclaimed "Inside Out" -- an animated look at the mind of a pre-teen girl -- could not defeat the dinosaurs of "Jurassic World" at the North American weekend box office.

LucasfilmWhile blockbusters like "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" and "Avatar" have demolished box-office records, they're still no match for the heavy hitters of years past when you adjust for inflation.

The Force has taken over the box office, to break several domestic and international records. The seventh movie in the Star Wars saga has become the fastest movie to rake in $1 billion after it registered the highest ever grossing Christmas weekend in movie history.